This Week: Best Kids Events for October, Halloween Ramp Up, Download the Free Mommy Poppins App

10/3/13 - By Raven Snook

The government may be shut down but we here at Mommy Poppins are still hard at work, especially with Halloween on the horizon. (Ah, if only we ran the world.) All of our sites published October Go Lists this week, so you can get a jump on the very best things to do throughout the month in NYC, Westchester, Long Island, New Jersey, Connecitcut and beyond. Most of our sites have jam-packed Halloween Guides, too, which we're in the process of updating. Just this week, we published posts about kid-friendly haunted houses in NYC and Westchester, haunted walks on Long Island, easy-to-make Halloween crafts and where to find costume swaps around the country. And we've got a frightening number of additional Halloween posts on the way.

Of course the biggest news around here is the official launch of our FREE Mommy Poppins App, which is available for download in the iTunes store. Now you can find the best places for kids to learn, create, shop, eat and play indoors and out while on the go in NYC. Don't have an iPhone? Don't worry: We plan to release a version for Android soon, plus we're also working on servicing the other regions our sites cover. So stay tuned.

Finally, this week's giveaway is sure to please young soccer buffs: five family four-packs to see a New York Cosmos home game plus Cosmos backpacks. The giveaway ends soon so enter now.

Here's what else we covered on the NYC site this week:

OUR LATEST VIDEOS

We added three new posts to our NYC Kids Halloween Guide: haunted houses in NYC and Westchester, and everything you need to know about where to find or how to host a Halloween costume swap

Our October NYC Go List is packed with the best things with kids all month long, including six picks for this very weekend.

We made two big announcements this week. First: Our Mommy Poppins App is now available to download for FREE in the iTunes store. Second: We're thrilled to have a new partnership with one of our favorite NYC cultural organizations: the New Victory Theater. Stay tuned for exclusive special events, ticket discounts and more.

Speaking of cool culture for families, we shined a spotlight on NYC opera companies that do kid-friendly productions.

Our biweekly links roundup has info on how to snag FREE kids' tickets to Annie on Broadway, a new tot lot in Central Park and the fight to save the Village Halloween Parade.

Best bets for the weekend include the annual Ragamuffin Parade in Bay Ridge, the Blessing of the Animals at the Cathedral St. John the Divine and the Chile Pepper Festival at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden.

About the Author

Raven is a writer, editor, performer and mom, who was born and bred in NYC, just like her husband, her mother and now, her daughter. As a writer, she's contributed articles to New York Magazine, Time Out New York, The Village Voice, the New York Post, TV Guide, Better Homes and Gardens, iVillage, AOL TV and Moviefone, Parents.com, and worked as an in-house editor for ParentsConnect.com and TimeOutKids.com. As a performer, she's appeared on many downtown stages (sometimes even for pay!), a couple of obscure films and TV shows, and The Maury Povich Show as a female drag queen. She's also the founder of Hot Mama Burlesque, the world's only all-moms burlesque show. After being the NYC editor from March 2011-March 2015, she is now happy to just be a blogger as she pursues additional writing opportunities.